Kidney Punch

The physics of maiming a child (repost because of “those” scooters)

John Pickering • Oct 26, 2018

• children,
• footpath,
• lime scooter,
• mobility scooter,
• physics,
• scooter

Dear Driver, When you backed out of a driveway and did not even see how I swerved around behind your car to avoid T-boning you, how dare you have the temerity to tell me you were careful!  I was 7 feet tall, dressed in bright yellow and traveling at no more than 10 km/h.  Perhaps a simple lesson in physics … Read More

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Cheesecake files: A new test to rule out heart attacks in just a few minutes

John Pickering • Oct 18, 2018

• Diagnosis,
• Emergency Department,
• Heart Attack,
• hospital,
• troponin

Your chest hurts, you go to the hospital (good move), you get rushed through and a nurse takes some blood and measures the electrical activity of your heart.  A doctor asks you some questions.  While she does so, the blood is being tested – the results are back already! Yeah, they are negative and everything else is OK, it’s not a … Read More

The Treatment of Kidney Failure in New Zealand

John Pickering • Oct 16, 2018

• Dialysis,
• kidney

I am delighted to introduce a guest post from Dr Kelvin Lynn. Dr Lynn worked as a Nephrologist at Christchurch Hospital for 35 years and retired in 2015.  He is the lead author for a book just published: The Treatment of Kidney Failure in New Zealand Authors: Kelvin L Lynn, Adrian L Buttimore, Peter J Hatfield, Martin R Wallace … Read More

PBRF: The end is nigh

John Pickering • Jul 16, 2018

• h-index,
• PBRF,
• research funding

I’d like to say the end is nigh for the performance-based research fund (PBRF), full stop. A few months ago, I demonstrated how the expensive and tedious production of evidence portfolios by 7000 academic staff will do nothing to change the redistribution of research funding – the purported reason for PBRF. So, I’d like to … Read More

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More on the PBRF’s new clothes

John Pickering • Dec 21, 2017

• citation metrics,
• economics,
• Health and Medicine,
• impact factors,
• PBRF,
• Science and Society

A few of weeks ago I outed the multi-million-dollar exercise that is the Quality Evaluation component of the performance based research fund (PBRF) as a futile exercise because there was no net gain in research dollars for the NZ academic community.  Having revealed the Emperor’s new clothes, I awaited the call from the Minister in … Read More

Cheesecake Files: The ICare-Acute Coronary Syndrome (heart attack) study

John Pickering • Nov 15, 2017

• Accelerate Diagnostic Protocol,
• Acute Coronary Syndrome,
• ADAPT,
• American Heart Association,
• Clinical Pathway,
• District Health Board,
• EDACS,
• Emergency Department,
• Health and Medicine,
• Heart Attack,
• Science and Society

Hundreds of nurses, Emergency Department doctors, Cardiologists and other specialists, laboratory staff, administrators and managers from every hospital in New Zealand with an emergency department have come together to implement new, effective, and safe pathways for patients who think they may be having a heart attack. Today, Dr Martin Than (CDHB, Emergency Department) presented to the American … Read More

Half a million Kiwis suddenly have high blood pressure

John Pickering • Nov 14, 2017

• blood pressure,
• cardilogy,
• Health and Medicine,
• heart,
• high blood pressure,
• Hypertension,
• Science and Society

At 10am 14 November 2017 NZST, millions of people around the world suddenly had high blood pressure. This will come as a shock to many and may precipitate a crisis in hand-wringing and other odd behaviours, like overmedication and jogging. The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology have just announced a redefinition of High blood pressure. High blood pressure … Read More

Performance Based Research Fund: a net zero sum game

John Pickering • Oct 18, 2017

• PBRF,
• Performance Based Research Fund,
• research funding,
• Science and Society,
• Tertiary Education Commission

Throughout the land, more than 7000 academics are awake night after night and suffering.  They are scrambling to gather evidence of just how great they have performed over the last six years. A conscientious bunch, they perform this task with their usual attention to detail and desire to impress (I didn’t say they were modest!).  Ostensibly, this exercise is … Read More

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Artificial intelligence: Flourish with change

John Pickering • Oct 16, 2017

• AI,
• artificial intelligence,
• Busineses,
• change,
• education,
• jobs,
• politics,
• Science and Society,
• technology

Newshub decided to do an “AI” piece today. Expect much more of this kind of “filler” piece. They will go thus… “X says AI will take all our jobs, Y says AI will save us.” These pieces are about as well informed and informing as a lump of 4×2 – good for propping up a slow news day, … Read More

This is what happens when you talk to your mother about artificial intelligence

John Pickering • Oct 03, 2017

• artificial intelligence,
• poem,
• Robot

I have been chatting with my mother about the headlines around artificial intelligence and my own venture into the field. In this poem she has picked up beautifully, I think, on the idea is that any problems with AI will be because of our own inadequacies as we train the machines.  K.A. Pickering, October 2017   Artificial Intelligence  Artificial Intelligence … Read More